What’s happening at Box Wood

SIPP Investments Ltd (owned by Michael Duke) bought the 60-acre wood which completed on the 24th July 2020. Two agencies have since been commissioned to sell the wood in various-sized plots by auction. The first auction was seemingly unsuccessful on 14th July when two small plots failed to attract any buyers. The wood went up for auction again on the 29th July with Barnard Marcus as two large plots of areas of 14 and 17 acres – offers in the region of £175,000 each. The West plot sold for £190K while the East plot failed to reach its reserve. Plots near the road and main gate have already been sub-leased and sold on.

We understand that the West plot has since failed to complete and Exclusive Property Sales has now been instructed to sell off smaller plots as this new map shows.

There is another auction on the 18th August.

More misleading ads can be seen here.

Particulars on Barnard Marcus’s website read: ‘…the use of the land offers a variety of opportunities for leisure, commercial forestry and other opportunities. Buyers may wish to consider future development prospects, especially for buildings and a dwelling…’

What it didn’t tell prospective buyers is that the wood has four important protections in place to prevent any development at all.